sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sun/NC/north-carolina sunflash-Send requests, problems to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunATM Adapter SunFLASH Vol 62 #2 February 1994 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 62.02 SunATM Adapter Sun delivers industry's lowest cost, highest performance ATM adapters, setting a new price/performance benchmark for the industry SunATM adapters offer 155 Mbps, full-duplex bandwidth and are ideally suited for all bandwidth-intensive applications including voice, video, image, text, and graphics The SunATM adapters also offer the highest level of functionality. They feature support for SONET/SDH physical framing, Q.93B signalling and AAL5 SAR ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- On January 18, 1994 Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) introduces the lowest cost, highest performance ATM adapters from any vendor. The SunATM adapters will allow users with any SBus capable platform, such as SPARCstation(TM) or SPARCserver(TM) systems, to integrate voice, video, images and data in their enterprise networks. There are two version of the ATM adapter that support data transfer rates of 155 Mbps, full-duplex, over multimode fiber or category 5 unshielded twisted pair (UTP) wiring. SunATM adapters are SBus cards that are ideally suited for all bandwidth-intensive communications in the LAN environment. ATM also offers seamless integration with the WAN environment without complex protocol conversions. Both the fiber and twisted pair versions support the the most widely accepted Telco standards, SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) and SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy - the European equivalent) physical layer framing structure. With Q.93B signalling software bundled, SunATM adapters are industry's first products to ensure standards-based interoperability with all ATM switches as well as enable switched virtual circuit (SVC) set-up. SunATM adapters are compliant with AAL5 standard - the SAR (Segmentation And Reassembly) function aligned with AAL5 (ATM Adaptation Layer level 5). Both boards conform to the latest ATM Forum/CCITT specifications. Sun took an early and leading role in the formation and organization of this industry-wide effort which is now an international consortium of more than 400 companies. The group defines ATM interoperability specifications and is promoting industry-wide cooperation to help proliferate ATM and thus drive implementation costs down. Features -------- o Single-width SBus card form factor o 155 Mbps operation over multimode fiber or category 5 UTP wiring o Enables TCP/IP applications to run transparently over ATM o SONET/SDH physical layer framing structure o Q.93B signalling protocol for SVC set-up and tear-down o Segmentation and Reassembly (SAR) functionality aligned with CCITT AAL5 o Up to 256 transmit channels and up to 1024 open receive channels o 32 bit SBus and 32 byte bursts support (conforming to IEEE 1496) o Integrated SBus/SAR ASIC SAHI2 (SBus to ATM Host Interface) implemented in CMOS o Compatible with relevant emerging ATM standards, including ATM Forum baseline documents Benefits -------- o Highest performance ATM adapter at the lowest price o Enables deployment of ATM in the LAN, MAN and WAN environments o Fast communication at 155 Mbps with a scalable technology o No inherent speed or throughput barrier o Bandwidth available on demand o Full duplex transmission and isochronous Applications ------------ o TCP/IP applications will run transparently over ATM o All bandwidth intensive applications including multimedia communications are enabled (e.g., desktop video conferencing, remote education, video multicasting, and high speed image transfer) HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS ------------------------------------ SunATM adapters can be used on any SPARC/Solaris(R) platform, running Solaris 2.3 operating environment or higher, with available SBus slots. QUESTION AND ANSWERS -------------------- Q: What is ATM? A: ATM is an advanced networking technology that supports multiple information types, such as voice, video, image, and data, in a single switching and transmission fabric. ATM has no speed or thoughput barrier and is scalable of supporting a large number of users. ATM is isochronous thus well suited to meet the timing dependancies of voice and audio information. Predicatble latency and bandwidth-on-demand makes ATM more suited for multimedia than any other technology on the horizon. ATM is ideally suited for a variety of applications, users and network topologies, including high-speed backbone for the LAN. Q: What is the SunATM Product? A: Sun's ATM product consists of two SBus interface cards, the SunATM-155/MFiber and the SunATM-155/UTP5 adapters. These SunATM adapters are the lowest cost, and the highest performance ATM adapters in the industry. They support 155 Mbps, full-duplex bandwidth and sets a new price/performance standard for the industry. Q: What is the target market/users for SunATM? A: ATM is currently being deployed by early adopters (high-end users typically). The target market for SunATM products are these early adopters in leading commercial, technical, university, and government organizations. The customer is likely to already be a Sun account and requires ATM for high speed LAN backbonem desktop connectivity and early WAN appliations. Q: When would you use ATM instead of Fast Ethernet, FDDI? A: As compared with shared-media technologies such as FDDI and Fast Ethernet, ATM offers the advantages of being able to scale from LANs within a single site to WANs that span the globe. FDDI is still a good short-term investment to extend existing FDDI networks because of ready availability of pricy but mature, interoperable equipment. Under 100 Mbps range Fast Ethernet is expected to be the lowest cost, highest volume option, primarily due to the enoromous 10 Mbps ethernet installed-base. Fast Ethernet may prove to be a tough competitor to FDDI, Token Ring and ATM in demands for less then 100 Mbps. However, both FDDI and Fast Ethernet are shared-media half-duplex technologies with a maximum speed of 100Mbps. The reason why ATM has generated this unprecedented level of enthusiasm in over 400 companies, worldwide, in the past 24 months, is because ATM is the only networking technology on the horizon to offer speed/performance, scalability and isochronousity Q: What are the key features of SunATM adapters? A: The SunATM adapters support SONET and SDH physical layer framing, Q.93B signalling specifications and SAR function aligned with AAL5. Q: Which wiring architectures are supported by the SunATM adapters? A: SunATM-155/MFIber adapter will support 155 Mbps operation over multimode fiber and the SunATM-155/UTP5 adapter will support 155 Mbps operation over Category 5 UTP wiring. The usual configuration is that of ATM switches attached to local users in a physical star configuration. Q: Will SunATM adapters support AAL3/4? A: The SunATM adapters implement AAL5 only support today in hardware. AAL3 and AAL4 are not supported today but may be candidates for inclusion in future software enhancements. Q: How compatible is the SunATM with that of other ATM switch vendors? A: The SunATM adapters will be compatible with any switch that supports 155Mbps, SONET/SDH ports, and Q.93B over AAL5. Q: What is required to set up an ATM LAN? A: In addition to Sun desktops and servers equipped with the SunATM SBus adapter and running Solaris 2.3, an ATM switch is required along with the appropriate cabling (Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) Category 5 copper or multimode fiber optic cable). Q: How is the product packaged? A: The SunATM adapters will be available in unbundled packages. Each package will contain a SunATM SBus card (multimode fiber version or the category 5 UTP version), the driver software on a CD, and user documentation. Q: What performance enhancements to the kernel have been done or are planned that impact ATM speeds? A: Zero-copy and Single-copy TCP are planned, which should enhance the stack transfer rates. Incorporation into the kernel are dependent on SunSoft schedules. Q: What should customers who are planning or upgrading their networks think about today ? A: Cable either multiple pair bundles of UTP Cat5 at the minimum or a combination of Cat5, multi-mode fiber (62.5u/125u) or single- or mono-mode fiber for current and future network bandwidth needs. Many cable vendors offer economical bundles combining copper and fiber optic cable. Labor costs to install whatever cable is chosen will typically be the same. Q: What is Sun's involvement in industry ATM organizations? A: By assuming a leading role in the formation and organization of the ATM Forum, an international consortium of over 400 companies, Sun has become a leader in driving the definition of ATM interoperability specifications and promotion of industry cooperation. ATM Forum's president-elect has been exclusively from Sun since its inception, 3 yrs ago. Q: Which standards are SunATM compliant with? A: SunATM is compatible with relevant emerging standards, including ATM Forum baseline specifications. AVAILABILITY ------------ The products can be ordered immediately. First Customer Ship for SunATM-155/MFiber will be in May, 1994. First Customer Ship for SunATM-155/UTP5 will be in September, 1994. U.S. PRICING AND ORDERING INFORMATION ------------------------------------- THESE PRODUCTS APPEAR IN BOTH THE END USER AND RESELLER PRICE LIST Order List Discount Sun Spectrum Description Number Price Category Silver Price -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SunATM-155/MFiber Adapter X1050A $1,295 A N/C* SunATM-155/UTP5 Adapter X1051A $995 A N/C* * No charge (c) 1993 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation and Solaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant Logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. SPARCstation and SPARCserver are licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. 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